Delhi belly,three countries, and my last day in Spain

I was awakened this morning at about 05:00 by fierce stomach cramps and an urgent need to visit the bathroom, a journey repeated umpteen times until the Immodium had kicked in. When I checked out the girl at the desk asked how I had liked the stay at this Parador. I said it was OK apart from the dinner which had done something nasty to my insides. She didn't seem overly concerned and didn't take up my suggestion to discount the meal which made me feel easier about having stolen a toilet roll in case of emergencies!

Before making this trip, I had read unflattering descriptions of Andorra together with the advice that it wasn't worth visiting. I should have taken that advice, it is a real dump and that is being polite. Approaching from the south as I did, you pass through customs almost immediately upon leaving La Seu D'Urgell and then into a conurbation of flats, shops and streets that seems to go on for miles - it does in fact! I don't know why but Andorra has an enormous number of petrol stations, it seems that every half mile or so, there is another and not just one, they seem to build them four at a time, all selling different brands. I reckon that in terms of petrol stations per capita Andorra must come first in the world easily. They also score highly in the ski lifts per capita rankings. Anywhere there is a hillside there is a ski lift. some seem to be built in back yards and can't be much more than a 100 yards long. The "development" of the hills to install all these lifts and to make runs has destroyed the natural beauty of what would be a lovely area. The picture below is the very best bit of Andorra about a kilometre from the border with France. That is a large ski resort in the valley below.

I passed into France in a somewhat confused state, I had thought I was going back into Spain ( I blame the funny tummy) and couldn't understand why the road signs were suddenly in French and why there were notices about the Tour de France here and there. Once I realised what was going on, I quite enjoyed the descent from the 2408 metre/7900 feet pass as the countryside immediately looked much nicer.

Back in Spain, I took the N152 from Puigcerdà over the Collada de Toses and on to Ripoll. It is a fabulous road with stunning scenery and superb bends for the biker. At Ripoll, I again joined the N260 and followed it all the way (with one short detour to a more scenic area), to Cadaqués on the Mediterranean which is where I am spending my last night in Spain. 

The knowledge that this was my last day in this wonderful country, on this trip, has been in the back of my mind all day and I have felt quite sad about it. However, needless to say I 'll be back!

I'll continue this blog until I get home and then there will be (after some delay), some video to add to it and perhaps some postscripts once I have had time to digest the experience.

Now to figure out a way home - made more complicated than need be as my Garmin seems to be on its last legs. It keeps losing satellite signal, especially in towns, switches itself off sporadically and has no idea of the one way systems in use in any of the towns I have been through for the last week or so. Back to paper maps and a compass I think!